Lanzer`s off-range musings

Dan Wesson Pointman 9 and Power Pistol

If I’m a logical man I would only buy 1911’s made in carbon steel, but the very first airsoft gun I had when I was 11years old was a 1911 in stainless finish. Ever since then I was waiting for the day to come when I can finally own the real thing. I didn’t feel like buying a cheap 1911 then go through the flow of regrets and upgrades, so I splurged and bought myself a Dan Wesson Pointman 9.

The gun was too pretty to shoot.

Dan Wesson is very impressive in putting together a gun with terrific fit and finish even though the parts are machined and not hand fitted. The slide doesn’t have any play at all, and the barrel fit very snugly to the bushing and slide. The one part that leaves a little to be desired is that there is a noticeable gap between the back of the barrel’s hood and the side. Looks like there are reasons why some guns cost another thousand dollars more than the PM9. Still, the upper lug on the barrel is doing most of the work, so the real test will be what happens at the range.

It’s meaningless to be shooting a well tuned gun with factory ammo, I packed the gun with a set of ammo containing:

115gr Montana Gold JHP bullet

Power Pistol powder (6.1gr – 6.7gr)

CCI 400 primer

1.1540″ OAL

I hit the range on a sunny afternoon, setup my bench rest at 25 yards, and it’s time for the moment of truth!

Let’s start with factory ammo

Shooting bench at 25yards with Aguila 124RN ammo, I was getting around 2.5″ groups. Pretty standard for shooting with iron sights.

Then comes the magic with reloads

My first try got lucky, 6.1gr of Power Pistol produced excellent results. I’m surprised I can even aim true to one inch with iron sights.

6.3gr of powder started losing accuracy.

6.5gr produced pretty impressive results. Of the two 5 shot groups, both have at least 3 overlapping holes, and 1 or 2 flyers. If I can figure out if the flyers were caused by error in reloading, this would be the most amazing recipe.

Group size for 6.7gr were very off, which is odd considering that 6.5gr performed quite well.

Overall I have to say that I’m thrilled about the PM9. A $5000 Wilson Combat pistol can guarantee 1″ @ 25yards, and here I am with a PM9 that holds the same performance without a Ransom rest. Of course, I have to now play around with the recipe to see if I can truly create consistent results, but we’re definitely off to a good start with this puppy.

Next week I’ll be picking up a RIA 1911, and I’ll be having a ton of fun comparing the quality between the low and high end 1911’s. After that I’ll be spending a lot of time gunsmithing, converting the RIA into something more accurate. Can’t wait!